By Tersoo Adagher
SINCE THE administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu came into office nearly a year ago, there have been several attempts to disrupt the flow of governance as well as the laid-out policies of the young administration.
Some of the tactics adopted include deliberate targeting and demonization of key functionaries of the government, perhaps to put them on their toes.
Over the past few months, several key figures appeared to have been selected as objects for a campaign of calumny – ironically by using the Tinubu government’s stated aversion to corruption to malign these officials.
It is in this wise that the Executive Secretary of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund, TETFund, Arc Sonny T. Echono, could be said to have found himself among the select few.
The commentaries of reform-minded Nigerians to the Tetfund’s painstaking efforts in changing the trajectory of our public tertiary institutions are appreciated.
This was visibly clear during the recent TETFund Research Fair and exhibition hosted in Abuja, which highlighted the nation’s most significant advancements in science and technology.
By bringing together researchers, entrepreneurs, and the general public, bridging the gap between academic research and practical application, showcasing technologies poised to impact industries and drive economic growth.
With free admission for all, the fair represents a pivotal opportunity to witness and engage with Nigeria’s top innovations. However, the denigration of Tetfund by some few individuals recently is unacceptable and grossly un-charitable.
A case in question is the; the recent allegations by Mrs. Patricia Yakubu, the APC Adamawa State Woman Leader, accusing TETFund of supporting the APC Adamawa Chapter with funds to run its affairs, are nothing but baseless fabrications aimed at tarnishing the reputation of Arc. Sonny Echono, the Executive Secretary of TETFund.
These claims are unfounded, defamatory, and indicative of an attempt to drag an institution of national importance and its esteemedtey leadership into a purely political squabble.
The baseless allegation of Tetfund sponsoring APC in Adamawa state and the promoters of such newsstands logic on the head in the sense that Tetfund as a critical intervention agency in the education sub-sector doesn’t award contracts.
It is the beneficiary institutions that undertakes all the procurement procedurals as stipulated by the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP), thereafter awards contract to the most qualified vendor.
Even Last year, President Tinubu lauded the agency for its foresightedness and dedication to service delivery.
The president gave the commendation during the commissioning of projects funded by the Tertiary Education Trust Fund in public tertiary educational institutions in the country.
The President, who was represented by members of his cabinet and other top government functionaries at the different beneficiary institutions across the country, expressed delight at the various projects which he said would further enhance teaching and learning and improve academic standards in the institutions.
President Tinubu assured that his administration would continue to provide necessary support towards making Nigerian educational institutions globally competitive for economic and technological development of the country.
Similarly, the National Assembly under the leadership of the Senate President, Senator Godswill Akpabio and Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Tajudeen Abbas has stated that it would continue to provide necessary support to TETFund through the enactment of legislations that would further advance tertiary education in Nigeria.
The commissioned projects include those at the University of lbadan and The Polytechnic Ibadan, worth over N650million and N1billion respectively.
The projects are the Department of Architecture building, Faculty of Technology Building at the University of lbadan, and Faculty of Business and Communication Studies Building, Faculty of Financial Management Studies Building and Faculty of Science Building at The Polytechnic, Ibadan.
In Gombe State, 11 projects valued at over N4.5 billion were commissioned by the Minister of Transportation, Alhaji Saïdu Alkali at Gombe State University.
At the Ebonyi State University, Abakaliki, the Minister of Works, Senator David Umahi commissioned three projects worth over N1.5 billion.
The Kwara State University, Malete, was beneficiary of three commissioned projects, namely the Senate Building, the College of Engineering Workshop Extension and the Centre for Sustainable Energy Building.
Similarly, projects worth N873.6 million were commissioned at Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University and Abubakar Tatari Ali Polytechnic in Bauchi State; while an array of projects worth N2billion were inaugurated at the Federal University of Technology, Abeokuta and Tai Solarin College of Education.
The raft of support to tertiary education by the Echono leadership was also recognized by the leadership of the 10th Assembly who also participated in the inauguration exercise.
The lawmakers expressed excitement that since the enactment of the TETFund Act in 2011, the Fund has performed exceptionally in the provision of physical infrastructure, support for academic staff training and development, book publication, ICT, Research and Development amongst others in public tertiary educational institutions across the country.
Beyond improving infrastructure at various educational institutions across the country, Arc Echono-led TETFund is also taking steps to help fresh graduates secure jobs as a way to address mass youth unemployment in the country.
This the agency is doing by implementing the recommendations from its Graduate Employability Benchmark programme conducted in partnership with the International Finance Corporation, IFC, to reduce unemployment rate in Nigeria.
This was motivated by the report of the IFC on Nigerian educational institutions, which indicated that the aggregate average score of Nigerian benchmark institutions across the five dimensions of employability namely relevance of learning, governance and strategy, employer engagement, career services/guidance, and alumni management stood at 2.3 out of 4.0.
This is a little above 2.2 which represents the average of institutions benchmarked globally.
Indeed, the agency was deliberately refocusing its intervention activities to support learning outcomes and employability of Nigerian graduates.
The new approach came on the heels of an approval by the Federal Ministry of Education of a strategic and operational plan to refocus TETFund entrepreneurship intervention for employability and innovation.
With Echono’s innovative and result oriented leadership, it is not surprising that various stakeholders in the education sector have spoken warmly about the transformational activities of TETFund.
In a recent statement affirming its support for TETFund and its management, the leadership of the National Association of Nigerian Students, NANS, commended TETFund for being a “driving force” behind the advancement of higher education in the country.
Drawing from his extensive experience as a former Permanent Secretary in the Federal Civil Service, the Executive Secretary has doubled his efforts in transforming TETFund into a beacon of excellence in tertiary education funding.
TETFund, according to Professor Lilian Salami the former vice chancellor university of Benin, stated recently that Tetfund under Echono has been driving educational reforms across tertiary institutions in Nigeria and has returned sanity to the sector.
Echono’s detractors might want to reflect on an old wise saying: “It is not in the nature of worms to teach eagles how to fly.’’ Though the dogs might continue to bark, it would not stop the caravan from moving on to its destination.
The managers of TETFUND are experienced, focused and dedicated to making a positive impact on their mandate.
They are already making remarkable impacts and no amount of skullduggery by faceless charlatans would make them deviate from this mission to rescue Nigeria’s tertiary institutions.
Tersoo Adagher, a Public Affairs Analyst, writes from Abuja.
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